All at sea

WHETHER from the back of his ministerial car, or from behind the wheel of his own Jaguar, it cannot have escaped the notice of Transport Secretary Philip Hammond that so many Britons were alarmed by his department’s plan to slash the number of Britain’s coastguard stations. The only puzzle is why it took the Government so long to announce its latest climbdown.

Even if the decision to scrap fewer than 10 rescue stations represents only a partial volte-face, it is still an embarrassing one given the fullscale U-turn over the forestry sell-off and the “pause” on reform of the NHS. It adds weight to the suggestion that coalition cuts are back-of-the-envelope stuff, rather than the considered analysis which they were presented as being.

The original plan to cut the number of coastguards from 19 to nine put not just livelihoods, but lives, at risk. It was a short-term and penny-pinching measure saving only £20m by 2015 – a drop in the ocean when set against this country’s trillions of pounds of debt.

If Mr Hammond, a Surrey MP and landlubber, wants to know how much Britons value the people who keep them safe at sea, all he has to do is wind down the window of one of his cars and listen to what they say.